1. WELCOME AND MINUTES OF LAST MEETING

1.1 The co-chairs welcomed members. Apologies were received from District Judge Karim Ezzat.

1.2 The minutes and actions arising from the last meeting were agreed.

2. NDIP ACTION PLAN

2.1 The majority of actions under NDIP had been completed with the remaining actions on track to be completed by June.

2.2 There was an update from the recent NPCC disclosure leads event which aimed to instil a culture change amongst officers and create a network for the leads.

2.3 Greg McGill was holding regular meetings with Chief Crown Prosecutors which emphasised good casework strategy in the approach to disclosure.

2.4 The members agreed that it would be useful if HMRC were represented in the Forum.

3. NATIONAL DISCLOSURE STANDARDS AND DISCLOSURE DOCUMENTS

3.1 There was an update on the DMD and MG3 insert which were now being used in a three month trial in RASSO and CCU cases.

3.2 Members were invited to comment on the following draft documents:

- National Disclosure Standards
- Joint Protocol on Third Party Material
- Index of Third Party Material • Template letters for Third Party material

The Forum agreed that the draft National Disclosure Standards should be amended to include a section on the Joint Protocol and a section on changing the culture in the approach to unused material.

3.3 There was a discussion about the test for relevant and non-relevant material and how material was reviewed and recorded during the life of a case. It was clarified that the schedules of unused material recorded relevant material and that there was no legal obligation to record non-relevant material.

4. PRESUMPTION OF DISCLOSURE

4.1 There was a discussion on the pros and cons of having a rebuttable presumption of disclosure for certain classes of document which usually do turn out to satisfy the CPIA criteria for disclosure (e.g. CRIS.) Members had mixed views on this idea and were invited to provide the AGO with views from their organisations by the end of May.

5. THE ATTORNEY GENERAL’S DISCLOSURE REVIEW

5.1 Should the review make any recommendations requiring changes to the Attorney General’s Guidelines or Statutory Instruments there would be a process of consultation on the proposed changes.

6. AOB

6.1 There was no other business and the meeting closed.